Rains abate, but battered roads begin to break motorists' back

Road from Panjagutta to Somajiguda flooded with rain and sweage water safety and hygiene has become a question to motorist | Neeraj Murali

As one enters the Oliphant Bridge in Secunderabad, the scene on Sunday afternoon was anything but like it should have been on a holiday. Motorists losing balance, the cover of a nala missing, debris dumped and buses crammed under the bridge inching towards the Rathifile bus station was the scene at 2 pm. Two motorists even skidded and fell within a span of just ten minutes, bringing to light the pathetic situation there.

After five days of continuous rain, and a torment-filled Saturday thanks to YSR chief Jagan Mohan Reddy’s public meeting, motorists in the city were literally in for a rough ride on Sunday, as roads across the city lay in a pathetic condition, as they went from bad to worse.

A quick view around the city’s roads by Express focuses the current condition of major areas in Hyderabad. Motorists said that the Pliphanta Bridge has been in a deplorable condition since the past few months, and rains have only made it worse now.

With a nala open, two barriers placed callously in front of another nala and sand dumped in the corners on the path heading towards the Rathifile bus station, it was utter chaos even on a Sunday afternoon, when vehicular traffic under the bridge is lesser than other days of the week.

“You should see the situation everyday in the morning after 7:45 a.m., when many people are in a rush to drop children to school. Ever since the roads were spoiled, this place has been getting jammed on a regular basis,” said A Satyanarayana, who was waiting at the junction near the Rathifile bus station. The road only got more choked with the buses slowing down under the bridge thanks to the bad roads, thereby almost halting vehicular traffic. Even the path from the signal towards Keyes High school was no better, with sand strewn around and potholes.

Not far away from that spot was another similar scene under the Railway bridge near Rail Nilayam, as the road there was equally bad or perhaps even worse. Commuters coming in from Mettuguda to Sangeet junction were literally undulating in their vehicles due to the holes in the roads, caused by the rains over the past one week.

“This road was always bad, and it was never repaired properly. Now it is very difficult to ride on the path, as there is a good chance of falling down if we even speed a bit,” lamented A Chandrasekhar, a resident of Tarnaka, who took the bus instead of his two-wheeler, as he was tired of the rough rides on his vehicle.

It was more or less a similar situation everywhere even in areas such as Minister road, Panjagutta and the All Saints’ Road near AOC centre. For travellers coming on the side where the Krishna Institute of Medical Science (KIMS) is situated, the road was as harrowing as it could get, with more than half of it dug up, and the remaining side equally bad with pot holes. And the sand on lanes only made it worse for two-wheeler riders, and pedestrians who had a tough time negotiating traffic with dust blowing across the entire stretch.

“Every time a bus or a car speeds by, so much of dust is blown onto our faces. Even wearing a helmet is not enough now,” cried out Abdul Waheed, a motorist who skidded on his bike and almost fell at Panjagutta, where the road was muddy at some places due to rain water, not subsiding even a day after the showers stopped.

When contacted, R Dhan Singh, engineer-in-chief, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), said that repair and patch works were already in full-swing, and that efforts were on to fix up roads in the city.

“The roads were mostly damaged due to the rains. Instead of renewing the roads, we are taking up works wherever needed,” he told Express.

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